William h



No. (H5 506 v Patented Dec 6, I898.

W. H. SMITH.

HASP FASTENER.

(Application filed Apr. 4, 1898.)

v(N0 Model.)

UNITED STATES.

PATENT FFIcE.

WILLIAM H. SMITH, OF NEIV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO JEREMIAH SMITH & SONS, OF SAME PLACE.

HAS P-FASTE-N ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 615,506, dated December 6, 1398. Application filed April 4, 1898. Serial No. 676,362. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SMITH, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Hasp-Fasteners and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a perspective view of one form which a hasp-fastener constructed in accordance with my invention may assume; Fig. 2, a detached view of the staple-plate and staple.

My invention relates to an improvement in hasp-fasteners, the object being to produce a simple, convenient, and effective device constructed with particular reference to being sealed over and over again.

With these ends in view my invention consists in a hasp-fastener having certain details of construction, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

In carrying out my invention I form an eye A in the free end or arm of a swiveled U- shaped wire staple A, the other end or arm of which is mounted so as to turn or swivel in the staple-plate B, which is provided with screw-holes B in the usual manner to adapt it to be secured in place and which is furnished with a sealing-flange 13*, located at its lower end, extending at a right angle to its face, and formed with an eye B with which the eye A of the swiveled staple registers when the staple is in its normal or locked position, in which both of its arms lie in the same vertical plane, as shown in Fig. 1. Under the described construction the swiveled staple is located in a plane at a right angle to the plane of the plate, to which it bears the same general relation that fixed wire staples bear to the plates in which they are mounted. As shown, the sealing-flange B of the staple-plate B is formed integral therewith. This is not a necessary construction, but a desirable construction on account of its simplicity, cheapness, and strength.

The hasp C is formed in the usual manner with a staple-slot C and hinged at its upper end to a hasp-plate D, which is secured by screws D D or in any equivalent manner to the cover E of the receptacle E, to which the staple-plate B is represented as being secured by screws B 13 However, the particular form of the staple-plate, hasp, and hasp-plate may be varied as desired, as well as their adaptation to be secured in place.

For sealing a hasp-fastener constructed in accordance with my invention the swiveled staple is reversed from its normal position and so that its'free arm or end will be located in the same vertical plane, but directly above its swiveled arm or end. In this position of the staple the hasp may be passed over it, after which it is reversed in position and brought into its normal position, in which its free arm or end is engaged with the sealingfiange of the staple-plate, as shown in Fig. 1, the said flange acting as a stop for the staple at this time. The eye A of the staple has now been brought into registration with the eye B of the flange, after which a sealing-wire F is threaded through the two eyes and its ends brought together and sealed by the application to them of a lead seal G, formed in any approved manner. 7

In view of the modifications suggested and of others which may be obviously made I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact construction shown and described, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention. I am aware, however, that it is broadly old to swivel a wire staple member in a staple-plate and also that it is broadly old to perforate the short arm of a swiveled wire staple member for the reception of a sealing-wire which also passes through a sealing-fiange. I do not, therefore, claim either of these constructions broadly.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A hasp-fastener comprising a hasp formed with a staple-slot, means by which the said hasp is movably secured in place, a stapleplate, a U-shaped wire staple located in a plane at a right angle to the plane of the said plate to which -it is swiveled by means of its long arm, and having its short arm formed withatransversely-arrariged hole or eye, and In testimony whereof I have signed this a sealing-flange formed with a hole or eye specification in the presence of two subscribwith which the hole or eye of the short arm ing witnesses.

of the staple registers when the staple is in WILLIAM H. SMITH. its locked. position with respect to the staple- Witnesses: plate and passed through the staple-slot of GEORGE D. SEYMOUR,

the hasp. ELLEN SCARBOROUGH. 

